Nurture: Closing The Life Preparedness Gap
A Mission to Create the Future of Early Childhood Learning
There’s a Problem
Parents want what’s best for their children. Never has a more obvious and true statement been made and yet today more than ever, successfully delivering on it feels like mission impossible.
For the first time in history nobody knows what skills or jobs will be relevant in twenty years. What do you teach children to prepare them for this uncertain future?
This realization hit me square in the face in early 2020. I had sold my last startup to Alibaba and was planning a sabbatical to travel with my family and reconnect with friends. Of course, just as I was ready to explore the world, the world went into lockdown.
A Twist of Fate, A New Adventure
I’m the dad of two wonderful young boys. Before the pandemic, like most parents, my wife and I mostly outsourced our kids’ education to school.
As we burrowed in for lockdowns I found myself with all the time in the world to be present for my sons’ transition to remote learning. What I saw and learned during the early days of the pandemic made it painfully clear to me: how and what our children are taught and their preparedness for the future, particularly one powered by AI, has never been more disconnected. Skills like critical thinking, digital literacy, mindfulness, empathy and resilience are key to thriving in our rapidly changing world, yet they are missing from traditional education.
We now call this the “Life Preparedness Gap” and I quickly became obsessed with finding a solution.
Witnessing first hand how traditional education focuses on teaching kids what to learn, not how to learn, I knew I had to find ways to supplement my boys’ education.
With what though?
I found the alternatives didn’t fully address the problem. Homeschooling was too time-consuming, and alternative schools too few and beyond the means for most to afford. Educational TV was heavy on entertainment, light on education, and learning apps didn’t hold kids' attention or teach critical life skills.
So I began to expand my efforts, validating learnings with former colleagues, co-founders and fellow parents who only reinforced the gravity of the problem. Their input added to my resolve, not to mention brought fresh perspectives, deep domain expertise, and much needed talent to the case.
Bolstered by my soon-to-be co-founders Danny Limanseta, Scott and Julie Stewart, and Sally Doherty I knew there and then that our next venture would focus on the massive problem of bridging the Life Preparedness Gap.
A Solution is Born: Nurture
In January 2022 Nurture was born based on the belief the life preparedness gap could only be closed by building a solution that:
Engages kids as much as their favorite shows and video games. It has to compete with their favorite entertainment, and win.
Builds on a science-backed learning framework that reinforces how to learn, not simply what to learn.
Uses interactive play to reinforce learning through practice and application.
Nothing like this exists. It represents an entirely new category, what we call “Immersive Learning Media” (ILM).
This is what Nurture is today….
ILM combines the best aspects of children’s television and gaming to create an immersive story-based adventure. Learning themes are introduced in the story and kids apply the skills they learn in interactive games and creative projects.
Nurture’s dual-screen format creates a magical immersive experience, where they help their favorite characters and become the heroes of the story.
Unlike most streaming media channels and children’s games, the Nurture app contains exclusively learning-focused, age-appropriate, interactive adventures - truly guilt-free screen time.
Tomorrow it will expand to…
Mixed reality and off-screen activities with parents will deepen learning and strengthen bonds. A Parent Portal will enable parents to engage in their children’s learning journey and get personalized insights into their children’s progress.
A Creator Platform that enables children’s content creators to build their own immersive learning adventures.
Our team and partners
We’ve assembled a team of the world’s leading experts in learning, parenting, psychology, along with award-winning storytellers and game developers.
Not only have we gained massive early reinforcement from our multidisciplinary team, but the early success of bringing immersive storytelling together with interactive learning using a new learning framework has opened the door to profound support from…
Top investors: Seedcamp, Golden Gate Ventures, and Reach Capital led our $2.8M pre-seed round.
World-class advisors in edtech, children’s media, and gaming, including Manuel Bronstein (CPO at Roblox), Lance Priebe (Founder of Club Penguin), and executives from Sesame Street, Paw Patrol, YouTube, Zynga, Xbox, Play Bigger, and Nickelodeon.
And leading children's content creators eager to bring their IP to the cause and new medium.
Join our mission to close the Life Preparedness Gap!
Sign up for early access to our closed beta before our public launch later this year.